Chained to History

Once you become a Cohen, you're stuck for life.

Spoilers:Series finale
Rating: G
Characters: All

Disclaimer: Josh Schwartz & Co. own all. I'm just borrowing.
Notes: Em rocks, because I *told* her she was betaing this instead of *asking* her, and she still did it. And Yana and Bex are good with the names. Thanks, guys!.

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"We'll figure out how to help you out of this mess," Ryan assured the young kid who sat in the passenger seat next to him, looking scared and uncertain. "But first I need to go talk to someone."

"Your wife?" Jack asked.

"No, someone a lot wiser about the kind of trouble you're in."

Jack didn't say a word, just stared out the window as they drove down the wide tree-lined street. After several minutes of silence, Ryan pulled the car into the driveway of a large brown-shingled house and Jack gawked at how homey and lived in it looked.

"I'll only be a minute," Ryan told him. "Do you want to come in or…?"

"I think I'd rather stay out here," Jack mumbled, as he followed Ryan out of the car and onto the porch.

Ryan studied him a moment before nodding and opening the door. "Ok. I'll be right back."

Jack remained silent, staring out at the street, until he heard the soft whoosh of the screen door closing. Then he crept close to the door, moving into a position where he could see and hear the occupants of the room but they couldn't see him.

"Ryan! We weren't expecting you today," a blonde woman was saying as she gave Ryan a hug. "Is Taylor with you?"

"Uh, no, she's not. But I've got…" He stopped and then started again. "Is Sandy around? I need to talk to him. To both of you, actually."

"It's nothing serious is it?" she asked, concern lacing her voice, and Jack wished he could remember a time when his own mom had been that worried about him.

"It is, but it's not me." When she continued to look worriedly at him, he added, "I swear."

"He's upstairs," the woman said, moving to the stairs and calling, "Sandy! Ryan's here."

A tall man with dark hair and bushy eyebrows bounded down the stairs. "Ryan! We didn't know you were coming today."

"I wasn't. But I've got a little bit of a problem."

Like the woman, he instantly looked concerned. "What kind of problem?"

"You know that kid I've been telling you about?"

Sandy nodded. "The one that's been hanging around the construction site."

"Yeah. His name is Jack and… "

"Hi!" a very young sounding voice suddenly chirruped from behind Jack, startling him. He spun away from the open door, afraid the grown-ups inside would realize he'd been listening in, and found a little blonde girl staring up at him curiously. "My name's Sophie. What's yours?"

Taking a few steps away from the open screen door, so their voices wouldn't carry inside, he muttered, "It's Jack."

She made a face at him. "There's a boy in my class named Jack. He's icky. And he makes fun of Princess Sparkles."

Curious, he took a step closer and sat down on the steps next to where the girl stood. "Who, or what, is a Princess Sparkles?"

"She's the best horse that ever lived," Sophie explained. "'Cept for maybe Captain Oats," she confided in a whisper. "But don't tell Summer that. I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings."

"Summer?"

"She's my brother Seth's wife. She gave me Sparkles and Seth gave me Oats, because they were afraid that Scarlett might start chewing on 'em now that she's teething and stuff. I don't think she would, but they said you can't trust little babies to know they shouldn't do things like that."

He grunted in reply and she just kept chattering away, telling him all about her toy horses and some kid named Joey who was exactly 6 months younger than her. Jack tuned most of it out while he strained to hear the rest of the conversation happening in the house, but the tail end of her story caught his attention.

"So anyways… Princess Sparkles and Captain Oats came from the Cohen side of my family," Sophie was just finishing up, "And General Biscuit came from the Atwood side. And Queen Sophia came from the Cooper side."

"You can't have three sides to your family, doofus," he scoffed.

"Can too!" she retorted. "My daddy said so. You can have as many sides as it takes to make a family."

He made a soft snorting noise. "Your dad told you that?"

"Well… he told my teacher when she complained about the family tree I drew in art class, but I heard him telling Mommy about it later, so I know he said it and I know it's true. My daddy doesn't lie."

"Everybody lies," he mumbled, thinking about the people in his family, the people he thought he could trust.

"Not my daddy. And not Ryan. Seth does sometimes, but usually it's just little lies, like telling Summer he changed Scarlett's diaper so he doesn't get in trouble or pretending that he raked the leaves in the yard." The kid paused a moment and her face scrunched up as she thought. "And Aunt Julie lies sometimes, but not to Kaitlyn or Joey or me because she says it's important to be honest with kids. But not everybody lies. *Especially* not my daddy!"

Jack scuffed his shoe against the porch step. "Whatever."

"It's true," she insisted.

"Not likely," he muttered, ducking his head. No matter how honest her dad or her brother were, it wasn't likely they'd be able to help him. No one could. And even if they could, they wouldn't. No one cared enough about a kid like him to help.

"Uh-huh! You'll see."

Which is just about when Jack heard the screen door open behind him. Craning his neck, he looked up to see the dark haired man standing above him.

"Hey, Soph, go say hi to Ryan and give us a minute, would you?" Sandy said as he came outside and sat down on the step next to Jack.

She smiled at him and nodded, her blonde braids swinging. "Ok!" Then she dashed into the house and Jack was left alone with him.

Sandy held out his hand. "Hi. I'm Sandy Cohen, Ryan's dad."

Jack took his hand reluctantly. "Jack Banks."

"Nice to meet you, Jack," Sandy said, his tone soft and friendly. "Here's the thing - Ryan tells me you're in some trouble?"

"I'm not –"

Sandy held up his hand and silenced him. "You are. I'm not exactly sure how much, but I've still got some connections with a few of the state agencies and tomorrow I can make some phone calls and find out. Meanwhile, you're gonna need a place to stay tonight."

Jack remained stubbornly silent and Sandy continued, "There's a guest suite above the garage. It's mostly filled with Sophie's toys and things, but you can stay there tonight. And then, in the morning, we'll go talk to some people and see what our options are."

"Our?" Jack asked, squinting at him dubiously.

"Our," Sandy confirmed, smiling. "We're in this together now. Once you become a Cohen, you're stuck for life."

"But I'm not a Cohen," Jack said.

Sandy smiled widely. "You are now, kid."

~End~

Posted by Cassie on 08:39 AM